Beast Senses

hcobb · 04-08-2022, 08:32 AM

Most beasts react to the world reflexively, without much higher reasoning. Therefore see if a beast reacts to something within its natural domain such as tracking by scent or hearing something roll 3/DX to see if it responds. This doesn't make say monkeys experts on spotting traps other that those kinds of traps they have been specially trained on.

David Bofinger · 04-10-2022, 05:45 AM

I think it's a mistake to make DX substitute for IQ, when we already have an IQ attribute. Just because an animal is agile doesn't mean it's smart, or easily trained, or vice versa.

I would prefer to give animals much higher IQs, while remembering that this isn't human-style intelligence, and also probably some Alertness-like talents so they don't have to roll as many dice. For that matter goats should have Climbing, and many other creatures probably deserve similar talents.

The case for splitting academic talent from cunning even in humanoids is actually quite strong. Stronger IMO than the case for splitting health from strength, as GURPS did. Having all wizards expert at spotting ambushes was always ridiculous.

04-08-2022, 08:32 AM	#1
hcobb Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Pacheco, California	Beast Senses Most beasts react to the world reflexively, without much higher reasoning. Therefore see if a beast reacts to something within its natural domain such as tracking by scent or hearing something roll 3/DX to see if it responds. This doesn't make say monkeys experts on spotting traps other that those kinds of traps they have been specially trained on. __________________ -HJC

04-10-2022, 05:45 AM	#2
David Bofinger Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sydney, Australia	Re: Beast Senses I think it's a mistake to make DX substitute for IQ, when we already have an IQ attribute. Just because an animal is agile doesn't mean it's smart, or easily trained, or vice versa. I would prefer to give animals much higher IQs, while remembering that this isn't human-style intelligence, and also probably some Alertness-like talents so they don't have to roll as many dice. For that matter goats should have Climbing, and many other creatures probably deserve similar talents. The case for splitting academic talent from cunning even in humanoids is actually quite strong. Stronger IMO than the case for splitting health from strength, as GURPS did. Having all wizards expert at spotting ambushes was always ridiculous.